Automatic lock-joint for railway-rails



(No Model.)

J. L. POPE.

AUTOMATIC LOOK JOINT TOR RAILWAY RAILS.

No. 395,918. Patented Jan. 8, 1889.

/ /1 Y H/ ,y

Ntra STATES JOHN Il. POPE, OF

Arent CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 395,918, dated January 8, 1889.

Application filed April 17, 188B. Serial No. 270.962. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Beit known that I, JOHN L. POPE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Automatic Lock-Joint for Railway-Rails; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable g others skilled in the art to which it apperta-ins to make and use the same.

lMy invention consists in an automatic lockl joint for railway-rails, the iish-plates of which are so constructed and applied that they will automatically adjust themselves to their posii tion, wedginthemselves between their upper and lower bearings, and so that any pressure either vertical or lateral will tend to produce greater tightness, andthe great er the pressure the greater this tendency, the construction and operation being such that a constant and efh'cient contact of the parts is insured and automatic compensatiim t'or wear is a ftorded, all as hereinattermorc particularly described.

In the [ish-plates hitherto known and employed in this art, so t'ar as I am aware, the construction ot' the plates and their connection with the rails have heen such that when under pressure their tendency was to work away from their bearings upon the rails, not toward them, and thus the plates were made to depend for their efficiency upon some securing mechanism. whether bolts, wedges, or other means, has been the main reliance in all-tish-plate connections, and if this gave way the plates like.

wise gave way and the joint was eorrespondingly impaired or wholly destroyed.

'Io illustrate what has been said, take the fish-plate in common use asan example. This plate is so 'made that when in working posi- 3 tion one edge rests against' the head of the .rail and the other upon the downwardly and outwardly inclined foot or base.

ing trainnis brought directly upon the plate;

but as soon as the bolts from any cause work In tact this mechanism, l

As long as j the bolts by which it is secured through the web are perfectly tight its upper and lower bearings are of service in strengthening the t loose the plate also is loosened, and, as this operates to release the plate from its bearings, the joint as a consequence is injured or destroyed. It will be seen also t-hat the joint thus constructed affords no protection against lateral strain,except such as resides in the bolts by which the plates are secured, the bearings of the plates along their respective edges being on outwardly-Haring surfaces and not in any sense constructed or capable of operating so as to strengthen the joint against lateral pressure independent of the bolts.

I am aware that other devices not possessing either the simplicityor the utility of :tishplates have been made with a view to overcoming the objections here enumerated; but I am not aware that the objections have been overcome by any of those devices or that a fish-plate joint has heretofore been known which possesses the advantages of construction or is capable of performing the functions and service claimed for my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, YI `igure l shows a cross-section of my preferred form of joint, illustrated in side elevation in Fig. 2. Figs. S, i, and 5 show slight modifications in hereinafter more particularly described.

A represen ts a form of tish-plate constructed according to the principle of my invention and common to all the forms of adaptation and use illustrated in the several figures. The distinguishing j .ieculiarity of this plate, as already stated in a general way, and in which the invention may be said mainly to reside, is that it is so formed that when in poi sition it locks itself without any securing mechanism.

Specifically described, the plate A is formed l with plain straightbearirig-surfaces 2 3 along its respective edges at differing angles to the pla-nc of its inner surface, el, and to the web l of the rail, so as to enable it to lock and secure itself upon its bearings, as hereinbefore referred to-that is to say, the surface or bearing 2 is at an acute angle to the plane of the inner surface, 4, and the web, while the surface or bearing 3 is at an obtuse angle thereto, and these angles eonverge toward l the web of the rail. Obviously if both bearj ings 2 3 were to run in parallel lines the selft locking effect that is desired would be lost.

IOO

' lhe bearing Si along the upper edge ot' the plate has lJee11,(lese1il)ed as plain and straight; but this t'orm need not neeessarily be obA served, as the same result would be obtained with a more or less rounded bearing, but the torni shown is preferred on aeeount oli wear.

'l`l10plate A is further l'ormed with a heel or so t'ar as the lower portion thereol.' is eoni eerned, as will appear t'rom the drawings. A eommon prineiple, hmvever, prevails in all the l'orms shown or that might be suggested, whieh is that the seating-snrlaees should ineline inwardly and downwardlyy tmvard the web T ol' the rail aindit'lering angles to the plane ol' the web and at angles` eorresptnu'ling io thebearing-surtaees ot` the eonneetingplate. The head of t he rail S is tlleretore.formed with a plain straight inwardly and downwardly inelined surifaee, .l, lormingtbe upper parti ot' the seat lor the plate, while the surt'aee lil, with less inelination, is t'ormed t'or the lower portion olf the seat in the manner shown-t hat is to say, in lfigs. l, i), and I) fshow a portion ot' the l'ootl I olA the rail turned up so that its upper surlaee will be brought to the proper angle to l'orin the lower portion oli' the seat t'or the plate. strueted has the advantage also ot.l having sut'lieient width to give the neeessarvbreadth oli seating-surfaee to the plate withtmtbeing lurther enlarged.

In YFig. -l l show a rail with the usual :toot unehanged and theseating-surtaee ltltori'nta'l. by a wedge-sltaped metallie plate, l2, laid upon the t'oot and held in position b v aehair, '123, having inwardly-inelined flanges it, bearing against the inelined outer surlaee olf the plate ,12.

ln Fig. the metallie 'plate l2 is shown as eonneeted by a searljoint with the Lt'oot of.' the rail. ln Figs. l. and a wooden pieee, lli, beveled upon one side, supports the :loot ot the rail upon the eross-tie, while in lfig. il a im'ltallie ehair, i7, serves the same purpose.

Itis obvious that various other ways oli' lforming an abutment l'or the plate A might he suggested; but it is thought that a sul'lieient number have been given to show that there .is a wide range ot' seleetion within the seope ot' the invention. .lhe simplest and best method, however, oi.' forming the abutment is represented in Figs. il, 2, and 3, where ille toot ol' the rail is shown as bent upward to the required angle, and suitable suplmrts are interposed between the t'oot and the erosstie.

'l`his t'oot as usuali)T eon- The operatitm or aetiml ot the plate A atter being placed in position in its seat will be understood Ytrom the foregoing description. It will be seen that on aeeount oli' the downward and inward inelination oli' the lower edge ol` the plate and its bearing the plate tends to move toward the web ot the rail; but the top and bottoni eannot both move in that direetion, beea use their beatri ngs converge inward, while the outward Vprojection of the base ol' the plate will not permit; the plate to twist, (1'. e., the bottom to more in and the top out,) so that the plate is cramped, wedgitse'lt' between its upper and lower bearings. 'lhere is thus a eonstanttendeneyot the plate to move inward, a eonstant torce exerted to prevent its doing so, and tlmret'ore a eonst an l. tightness ot the joint.

Vlt will be seen that when the plat es are in working position they are still somewhat removed t`ron1 the web with a remainnlg surt'aee on whichA to tighten. and that their post tion and eonstruetion are sueh that they eaunot t'ail to give great strength and l'irniness to the joint.

lt' 'neeessary to prevent misehievously-di,s posed persons from removing the plate without tools, the plate 'may be held in position b v driving a spike into the erossstiie with its head lfiez'n'ing upon the heel ot' the plaie, or by an)v other simple and snl'tieient means that may suggest themselves. lt will. be found, however, that the plates will beeome so tirmly loeked that it Vwill require no ineonsiderable etlort to remove them.

llaving thus deseribed my invent ion,what l elaim as new, and desire to seeure b'v Vletters latent7 is- Il. ln a rail-joint, the Vfish-plates and rails int-ving thei r s u rtaees of eontaet ii i el i ned downward and Converged toward the `web ol the rail, substa'ntially as set tfo'rth.

2. ln a rail-joint, a tisleplate hinting bean ings alongI its edges eonverging inwarthy and dtnvnwardly in straight lines, substantially as set lorth.

il. ln a rail-joint, a` tisb-plate havingl its lower edge provit'led 'with a l)earringsurt'aee at an aeute angle and its upper edge with a beariiijf-surface atan obtuse angle to the plan e oli the web ot' the rail, and an i11wardly-eon verging seat tor the plate, substantially as set li'orth.

.4. ln a railfjoint, a tislrplate having bearings on its respeetive edges at differing angles tothe plane ol.' its sides and converging inwardly and downwardly, the lower bearingsurt'aee havin greater width than the upper, in combination with a converging seat in whieh the plate gravitates to a looking position, substantially as set forth.

ln a Vrail-joint, a :fish-plate having its lower edgere-enoreed by a projection extending laterallyY outward therefrom and provided with a plain bearingsurface the tull width of d per edge ot the plate, in eomhinatiou with a TIO seat for the plate at the side of the rail formed on lines converging' inward and downward toward the web, substantially its Set forth.

C. In a rail-j oint, a rail having a bearing on its foot :Lt an acute angle to the web and a bearing on its head at an obtuse angle to the web, Substantially as set forth.

7. In a rail-joint, a ruil havingts foot turned up so as to bring` the upper surface thereof to an acute angle to the web and a bearing on ro the head at an obtuse angle to the web, substantially as Set forth.-

JOHN L. POPE. Vtnesses:

H. T. FISHER, J. L. CoREY. 

